Ghosts
by ink-spilled
Summary: Hal reflects on the three ghosts he has lived with. I might add a few more memories, I don't know yet
1. Pearl

**disclaimer: BBC owns everything, I wish I did, but I don't.**

**Just getting rid of some writers block before I start my coursework, hope it's not too shabby.**

Hal had met a fair few ghosts in his time, but he had only lived with three. Hal suspected he would meet many more ghosts, but he vowed never to move in with any more unless it was absolutely necessary. Meeting a ghost, letting them stay in your home for a few days even, was very different to living with one. Ghosts were human beings once, that is what other people forget, and they have annoying habits just like everyone else.

Pearl was the worst, but Hal still had a soft spot for her. Maybe he felt for her because he knew Leo cared so much about her. Or maybe he had become so used to her being around all time, she had become like a piece of furniture. Pearl liked order, almost as much a Hal. She had to have everything perfect, clean and tidy. Time after time Leo had assured her she could have a break from house work and get out, or come downstairs and sit in the shop, but Pearl always refused to leave the flat for more than an hour at a time. She constantly thought she was being judged on how clean her home was, and how perfectly her cooking was presented. Hal thought it was the magazines she read. They told women what appliances they should have, what make-up to wear, even how to dress their husbands. Pearl was a nuisance most days but Sundays were the worst Hal thought to himself. He had a lot of time to think now a days. Being tied to a chair in the living room of an old B&B really didn't offer many other activities, so he was often left to get lost in his own thoughts.

**Sunday 1955**

It was raining that day, chucking it down. The wind howling and the heavy raindrops threw themselves at the window panes. The room was dim, this was partially because of the tedious grey clouds outside blocking the sun but mostly due to the dingy flat they lived in above the barbers shop. Hal was sat at the dining room table lining up his dominos, Leo was downstairs tending to the one of the last regular customers who had braved the weather outside for a short back and sides. Hal often wondered why Leo bothered opening on a Sunday . Leo just shook his head, and explained Sundays were just like any other day and he couldn't let his regulars down. But Sundays were not just like any other day to Pearl. The ghost took great delight in cooking a Sunday roast. A Sunday roast that she couldn't even eat. Never the less she enjoyed cooking it. She looked so strange stood there in her navy dress, and high heels, with immaculate make-up that will never ever smudge or come off, she was frozen in time. She looked as though she should be going out dancing, not slaving over a stove. That was Pearl all over - all dressed up with no where to go.

Pearl was flitting about upstairs, much to Hal's annoyance. She was opening the oven door every five minutes to check on the chicken. Then she was checking the vegetables, then she wanted to set the table.

"Come on then!" She sighed holding the red and white checked table cloth "Clear all that off, I need to set the table."

Hal just stared at her, blankly.

"Well?" She asked "What are ya waiting for?"

"I haven't finished." Hal gestured to the dominoes on the table, all neatly placed in a spiral.

"Oh, come off it Hal, just.. I don't know clear them up, knock them down, what ever it is you do, just get rid." Pear flounced off to pull the chicken out of the oven.

"I cannot just, _clear them up or knock them down_, I have a system!" Hal was appalled.

"Oh fer God's sake!" She huffed as she began to cut the chicken. "Look the dinner is done now and the table is not even set, what are we, barbarians?" Pearl was clearly getting aggravated.

"Fine!" Hal began to take down his dominoes on by one.

"You'll 'ave to do it faster than that, the dinner will get cold!"

"I'm going as fast as I can" Hal spoke through gritted teeth.

"Well if _you_ want to eat cold chicken and potatoes, be my guest! Poor Leo has been at work all day on his feet and-"

Hal cut her off, "Why you feel the need to have all the silverware out for a Sunday dinner you cannot even eat I will never know!"

"Oh excuse me for doing something nice, you know what? you'd soon miss it if I dint bother!"

Looking back, she was right. Hal did miss the little things she did. Such as Sunday dinner, Christmas dinner, even making them a cake each on their birthdays - Pearl never forgot a birthday.

Their argument ceased as soon as Leo appeared in the flat. Hal looked down at the tabled picking up his dominoes one by one, and Pearl tended to plating up the dinner.

"Are you two quite done?" Leo asked, a tone of authority in his voice.

"Well, she started it" Hal never looked up from the table.

Pearl just scoffed, while she placed the gravy in the gravy boat and shined the silverware "I only wanted to set the table.." She muttered.

"You two, honestly can I not leave you alone for an afternoon without you bickering? What if I had customers downstairs?"

Hal looked up at Leo this time, "You never have any _real_ customers on a Sunday Leo."

"Oh, so who were they downstairs? _Imaginary friends?" _Leo took a seat at the table.

"They were just people you know from the pub, wanting a cheap haircut." Hal stated bitterly, he was in a foul mood now and needed to vent at someone.

"Friends from the pub who think I am the only one living above this shop, do you want to be found out?"

The room was thick with silence. Pearl was the first to break it.

"Sorry." She practically whispered. That was a hard thing for Pearl to do, she was usually so proud, but Leo bought out a side to her nobody else could.

"And Hal, what do you say to Pearl?" Leo, looked down at his friend, as if talking to a naughty child.

Hal was taking down the last couple of dominoes. "Yes, well.. Sorry"

The room was silent once more, until Leo went over to the record player and put on some Louis Armstrong to break the tension. Hal retired to his room to put away his dominoes, and to allow Pearl to set the table. In the end it was their mutual respect for Leo that bought them together, Leo had saved them. Hal would still be drinking blood, and Pearl would be lost and alone with nobody. That didn't excuse the fact she irritated Hal, she really knew how to get on his last nerve.

It irritated him that she always went over the top with Sunday dinner. The silverware polished to perfection, the dinner presented identically to how it was presented in the magazines she read on house keeping. They sat down to eat, even Pearl had a plate. Hal understands now that the plate of food she made for herself made her feel human, made her feel as if she was still apart of the living. It made her feel normal. Hal never did tell Pearl, none of her efforts were in vain. He understood she was only trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

"Hal you _must _lay off Pearl" Leo said half way through dinner. "She just wants to make the place homely, I know she hasn't been here all that long, but she's trying."

Hal didn't respond, she had been ages, Leo was just soft on her, at that moment in time Hal saw Pearl as a well tolerated pet.

"And Pearl" Leo looked over to the ghost, Hal noticed his face soften every time he looked in to her eyes. "You know Hal has his routines, leave him too it, he needs them, you understand don't you?"

No, Pearl was not the worst ghost he had lived with. It was cruel to say that, she did well keeping them together, she was just overly houseproud. She tried to make the small flat above the shop, a home. A safe and comfortable home. Pearl looked at her life with such pessimism. She never got married, so she thought she was unloved, but she wasn't. Hal loved her too, in his own way. Though he'd _never ever_ admit it.

She nodded at Leo, and smiled at Hal. It was a sad smile, a apologetic smile almost. Not for how she had spoken to him, but almost as if to say she was sorry for what he was. She was sorry he had to complete routines, sorry he was so old and tortured. He was sorry for her too. Sorry for how she had died so young, to him she was a baby. He was sorry she didn't cross over. Sorry she was stuck with him for company. Pearl started sitting in the shop with Leo a lot more after that dinner.


	2. Annie

**disclaimer in chapter one.**

Hal sat tied to the chair in the living room, nearly all day everyday while he was detoxing. There wasn't much to do, but look at the walls. The television became tedious after a while. The tea just reminded him of Annie.

Annie was his favourite. It was unfair to have favourites, but if he had to pick, Annie would be it. Annie was motherly, she made him feel wanted and safe, Pearl had tried to do these things, but they just argued like cat and dog. Annie radiated warmth. Possibly it was her overwhelming desire for children of her own, the caused her to show such motherly love to everyone she met.

Hal hated replaying his memories, no matter how happy they were, because he slowly had to remind himself that the people in these memories were gone, never to be seen again. Annie was often in these memories.

He remembered it being a Tuesday afternoon, Hal had returned early from work. It was sunny outside, but it was winter sun, the type that shined so bright it fooled you into thinking it was warm, when in reality it was freezing. He knew he had startled Annie, because she had a rolled up magazine in one hand and baby Eve resting over her shoulder. Her face had pure shock written all over it.

"Hal!" She spoke, slightly embarrassed, but also relieved.

Hal looked at the rolled up magazine, mocking Annie's choice of weapon.

"Well, I wasn't expecting anyone.. You caught me off guard" Annie looked slightly ashamed, that she wasn't better prepared, that she had been caught of guard. Like she had let the house down, let Eve down. "Tea?" Finally she smiled.

Annie's answer to everything was tea. She even made cups for herself, just like Pearl had with dinner.

Hal nodded and Annie thrust baby Eve into his arms. Hal wasn't accustomed to babies. They didn't like him, they sensed he was dangerous. That was why he liked Annie, she had faith in him. She didn't want to hear about his past even though he wanted her to know, she only cared about his present. She had even seen his future, what he would have become if baby Eve had survived, but she still placed her trust in him. Annie came through the double doors of the kitchen, holding two steaming mugs. She placed them down on the coffee table and took Eve back off of Hal. Eve always cried when Hal held her, she wailed and wailed begging to be released.

"She really doesn't like me, why do babies hate me?" Hal sighed, trying to brush off the fact it slightly bothered him she didn't like him as much as the others, but it was to be expected.

"She doesn't hate you!" Annie scoffed, as she bounced Eve in her arms.

"Then explain why she cries, every time I hold her, she knows what I am" Hal looked down at his mug of tea.

"Oh don't be daft!" Annie put a hand on his arm, Hal stiffened, he hated being touched. Annie noticed him tense up. "Sorry" She muttered, removing her arm tentatively.

"She cries, every time I have to pick her up." He reasoned. " Babies can sense supernatural stuff you know."

"You're just holding her wrong" Annie laughed, a deep hearty laugh, a real laugh.

"What?" Hal looked bemused.

"You can't hold her away from you, babies need to be held close"

"I don't know what you mean?" Hal was confused, he didn't really understand babies, he assumed they all hated him.

Annie stood up to demonstrate. She looked at Eve apologetically and then held her awkwardly under the arms, away from her body. The baby looked confused for a second then began to gurgle. The gurgle became a small cry, a confused cry and then a wail. Annie immediately held Eve close to her, supporting her head and back with her arm in a cradle shape. Eve calmed down almost instantly.

"See?" Said Annie, "She just likes to be close to people, try it?"

Annie showed Hal how to place his arms and she placed Eve in to them. Hal looked terrified, he was a five hundred year old, ruthless killer and he was scared of a small baby. He was scared he would break her, scared he would hurt her, she was so tiny and fragile. Eve grumbled in this grasp, but she didn't cry. She just seemed unsettled in his arms, so he handed her back to Annie.

"She can still sense me though, you know, what I am" Hal stated.

"I often wonder, when she grows up, will she, you know still be able to see me?"

Hal remembers not knowing what to say, because he didn't know the answer. Maybe the werewolf in her, would enable her to see Annie, the ghost who raised her. But something told Hal that she might not be able too, after all the werewolf gene had be cancelled out hadn't it? Hal remembered hoping Eve would be able to see Annie, because she would need her.

Hal looked back on that memory with such mixed feelings, it was a nice memory. He held Eve and she did not wail to be let free from his grip, but a sad memory because Eve and Annie were gone. A sad memory because they talked of Eve growing up, something that never got to happen.

"I wonder who she'll look like the most?" Annie smiled looking down at Eve "George or Nina?"

Hal had never met Nina or George, so he could hardly offer his option on the matter.

"She'll have Nina's hair I bet!" Annie laughed, a small excited giggle. "She had beautiful hair, I can't wait to tell her about them, about them all" She looked down at the baby, lost in her own memories. Memories of the B&B before Hal and Tom moved in, when it was just her, George, Nina and Mitchel. She snapped out of her thoughts and smiled at Eve again. "Oh I hope she's good at math's, or one of you are good at maths, because I'm awful. I am Eve, yes I am."

Hal enjoyed watching Annie talk baby talk, he enjoyed listening to her talk about Eve as if she was a normal child.

"Tom will be home in a minute, are you going to sit with Hal while I put the kettle on, are you? Yes you are." Annie cooed at the baby. "Take her a minute will you?"

Hal held the baby as Annie had directed, as she went to make tea for Tom.

"I'll put the television on, shall I?" Hal asked.

There was no reply, but he did anyway. His focus was on Annie though, he watched her intently as she made tea, her favourite hobby.

Looking back now, sitting in the B&B, facing the kitchen where she used to make tea, he accepted Annie was his favourite. She didn't bicker with him, or make him feel guilty for his misdeeds. She just accepted things as they were. Hal hoped she got her happy ending, the death she deserved. Re-united with everyone she had loved,he could imagine her making tea and being able to drink it, laughing with her real friends, her make-shift family. Yes Annie deserved that.


	3. Alex

**Disclaimer in chapter one.**

Alex was the most trouble. She constantly reminded him he had drank her blood, no matter how many times he apologised. Alex looked after him though, she wound him up, but she looked after him while Tom was away at work. She tried her best to be annoying and get on Hal's nerves, but ultimately she made sure he was well, and recovering.

Her tea wasn't a good as Annie's but it was tea none the less. Her attempts at dinner were not as perfect as Pearl's and were often microwave meals she had rent-a-ghosted from Tesco's. Hal couldn't fault her for trying though.

Alex was rarely here now a days, she minded him, under Tom's strict instruction while he was at work but Hal was getting stronger and no longer needed to be watched around the clock. So Alex went off to search for her body, and discover her unfinished business most days. Strangely he missed her being around. At first he couldn't wait to get rid of her, it sounds awful considering the part he played in her death, but seeing her stuck forever in the clothes she wore for their date, made him feel guilty. Now he wanted her back. She made him laugh, when she wasn't winding him up. She read to him, even though she complained about the books Hal liked. He even missed it when she made him watch Holyoaks.

The last time they spent a good few hours together was a good day. It was warm outside, and it was a Thursday. The sun was hitting the back of him, making him feel a little bit sick, so Alex closed the blinds.

"Mornin' gorgeous" She chimed, clearly making fun of him.

Hal knew he looked awful, though he had no reflection, he knew he would have dark rings around his eyes, his lips would be chapped and his skin would be paler than usual.

"Fancy some breakfast?" She called from the kitchen.

"Just tea, please" He croaked.

He was nearly there with his recovery process, a few more days of feeling and looking awful and he'd be on the mend. He would start to get a lot stronger. He watched Alex as she boiled the kettle, but she didn't grab two cups like Annie would, she never made tea for herself. Hal was slightly disturbed by how unaffected Alex was by her own death. She had been slightly confused at first and rather angry and then nothing, she was just the same as she had been when she was alive, loud and boisterous. Hal suspected it was front though, because he could have sworn he'd heard sobs late at night when she thought the boys were asleep.

"Here you go." Alex came through the double doors of the kitchen, with a cup of hot tea in her ghostly hands. Alex unbuckled one of the straps around Hal's wrist.

"What? What are you doing?" Hal was nervous, she couldn't release him, why would she release him? what was she doing?

"Calm down! I'm only freeing ya hand " Alex grinned, and Hal looked confused. "Oh come on, ya can drink a cup o tea by yaself! Ya don't need a straw, it's silly!" She started to fee a his arm too.

Hal took the cup, it was hot, very hot. He placed it too his lips and smiled. Alex allowed him a slight bit of independence, a tiny bit of freedom. Tom would hit the roof if he knew. Tom would say that Hal could free himself with that free hand, and escape. Tom would be very angry indeed because Tom knew what vampires were like, but right now Hal felt slightly human, he didn't want to escape, he wanted to stay here, it was safe. Alex still hadn't forgiven him for drinking her blood, he knew that, but she was starting to trust him a little bit. She was starting to accept him.

He knew Alex was scared of him. After all he had called her some horrible things, and showed her the old Hal many times during his detox. Alex pretended not to be bothered, but he could smell the fear on her.

Though while Hal sat in his chair now, staring at the walls, waiting for Alex and Tom to return. He didn't think back to that happy, sunny Thursday afternoon, no. He thought back to a cloudy Saturday morning. When he wasn't as strong and he had a distain for Alex being in the house.

He felt awful that morning, a unprovoked rage sitting in his stomach, rising slowly. Tom had got up, and made him some breakfast. Though Hal did not eat or utter a word to Tom, he just stared.

"Right Hal, I've gotta go na" Tom said while putting on his coat "Alex will look afta ya, call if need me"

"Will do." Hal's tone was blunt.

"Alrite mate, see ya later" Tom was used to Hal's mood swings by now, but Alex was not. She would argue with him, and scream at him and call him out on his less than gentlemanly behaviour.

He heard Alex come down the stairs, she seemed cheery, and that only made Hal more aggravated.

She walked straight past him and into the kitchen.

"Tea?" She called

"No." Hal replied, bluntly in the same tone he had spoken to Tom in.

"Suit yaself" She chimed.

Her happiness seemed to ignite the unprovoked rage in Hal, making it bubble to the surface at an alarming rate. Watching her stood in the kitchen, putting the radio on and washing up, he wanted her to leave. She put away the dishes in the wrong order, and often left them to drip on the work top. Something Annie never allowed, something Pearl would have a fit over. He studied her intently, frozen in time in a dress. A dress she hated because it was girly, a dress he hated because it was constant reminder that he had once took her on a date, that she had died because of him. He looked at her face, studied her features. She looked happy, humming along to the radio. She had put make-up on for their date, she looked beautiful, she would look that way forever.

"Sure ya don't want some tea Hal?" She called over the radio.

"I said, no thank you." He spoke through gritted teeth.

"Alright, come on , what's your knickers in a twist, eh?" She came through the double doors of the kitchen and began to search for the television remote on the cluttered coffee table.

"Don't put the television on." He growled.

"Er why?" She was still looking for the remote control, she had moved her search to down the sides of the sofa.

"Because you watch awful programmes, mindless drivel that drives me insane."

She found the remote. "Ah-ha!"

She flicked on the television, and scrolled though the channels.

"Did you not just hear what I said?" Hal was looking at her with utter distain.

"Yeah, I did." She didn't look at him, her eyes were fixed on the television. "And as far as I'm aware there's nothing you can do to stop me."

She sat on the sofa, flicking through the channels until she found some American soap opera. Hal knew she wasn't interested in the show, she was just watching it to wind him up.

"_Turn it off._"

"What's the magic word?" She chimed, she really knew how to irritate him.

"Listen you_ insolent bitch_, I have told you turn it off, and _you will listen to me."_

Alex ignored him, she knew ignoring him made him worse.

"Annie would listen to me, you know!"

It was a low blow, Hal knew Alex hated being compared to Annie. Hal had compared her to Annie so many times.

"Annie made drinkable tea too, and she cleaned the place, she didn't leave it looking like a pig sty." Hal was angry now, for no real reason at all.

"You swan about the place like it is your own home, well it's not. _It never will be_.Tom doesn't even want you here, we put up with you. He feels sorry for you. I don't know why, You make mess, you don't do anything properly, you are a nuisance, God why couldn't it have been you that went instead of Annie? why can't we have Annie back? Swap you for her, yes that would be excellent." Hal spat.

For once Alex didn't react, Hal thought she was ignoring him on purpose.

"Are you listening to me? Do you need me to repeat myself?"

She stood up, turned of the television and looked Hal dead in the eyes, that took courage he must admit. She had tears welling up in her own eyes, and her jaw was shaking slightly.

"No, I've heard enough." And she rent-a-ghosted out of the room.

Hal can't remember much after that, he didn't want to. Guilt racked through his entire body, he was the reason Alex lived here, he was the reason she had nowhere else to go. She was untidy and her tea wasn't always up to scratch but she was alright really. She was just a constant reminder of what a monster Hal could be, and monsters he associated himself with. He forced himself to think of that sunny Thursday afternoon. When she made him watch Holyoaks and freed his hand so he could drink his tea. He reminded himself of her smile and her laugh and her voice when she was happy. He hoped Alex would stick around a bit longer, because they needed her around here. Tom did want her, he enjoyed her company. She wasn't motherly like Annie, she was more a big sister to him.

Though at the same time, he hoped she'd complete her unfinished business, because she deserved rest. She deserved to cross over and leave this God awful situation behind her. But Hal's own selfish needs wanted her here, because he didn't want to say goodbye to another ghost and watch them wander through their door. A door he would never have for himself.


End file.
